Quality Time

PHOTO: Diego Fernandes 2007

It wasn’t that you were evil
Or a bad kind of person.

Those were my feelings afterward,
When I found my heart bleeding.

When my illusions about eternal bliss
And unbounded joy were laying stone dead.

I needed serious therapy so I went
Seeking perfect counsel.

Every single one, even one I liked,
Acted unprofessionally.

Acted unprofessionally is my way
Of saying they just wanted sex.

Well, that’s not quite true,
They all wanted money too.

The first one was the woman
Who had me sit in her lap.

Then one after another, they all
Whispered their pent up desires.

I take that back, there was one guy,
He was very militaristic.

He very clearly ticked off
Restrictions on his fingers.

He kept looking at his watch
And stood, one foot raised on a chair seat.

He got sixty bucks for telling me
What I couldn’t talk about.

Oh yeah, I forgot, and the religious guy,
He wanted to convert me.

What can I say?
I was naïve.

It was all so strange because I thought
It was just therapeutic technique.

And it was just all so subtle,
Sly innuendo and odd touching.

The first few times I, very trusting,
Cooperated for my greater good.

Then I realized something about humans,
Even therapists; they’re human.

They all want eternal bliss
And unbounded joy.

Those therapists were just doing
What every other human does.

Humans have rules they break
And they hope they don’t get caught.

Oh yes, when they’re caught
They scream and weep and claim insanity.

And the rules are still broken,
Nobody puts Humpty-Dumpty together.

But none of that ‘technique’
Kept me from being a second choice.